License issues....

First off, I want to appologize about the likely "disjointedness" about
this post. I read an earlier about licenses, deleted it, then realized I
wanted to respond to it.

Anyhow, the post was about converting a license that was referenced in
several areas to the PGDG (IIRC?). Someone responded, said they thought
it would be OK, and could be done without causing any problems.

This needs further thought and action (if it isn't already implemented?)
- a way to legally track licensing, etc - something that could be
presented in a legal challenge and be legal (IANAL). In the ongoing
litigation revolving around Linux and SCO - one of the great challenges
is going to be identifying who owned what and who gave permission on
distribution, etc. It leads to thorny issues.

These same issues could come to plague the ODBC driver, perhaps even
PostgreSQL - should any future legal challenges to the legitimacy of the
source code ever occur. It would be nice to be prepared now, rather than
scramble when (not if) the s--t hits the fan. The greatest problem is
the sheer scope of the task, and the dedication it would take. The
effort could even slow or stop development work. The alternative of a
"wait-and-see" attitude could lead to worse...

I can foresee a few steps that would be needed for such a project,
though I am sure each can be expanded into several in its own right, and
that there are likely a lot more I am missing or unaware of that would
be needed:

1. Full code audit (of current and historical copies) of who contributed
what and when, and under what license.

2. Historical document audit of emails and other conversational
exchanges between contributor and project managers/leads to help further
establish legitimacy.

3. Re-establishment (as possible) and re-confirmation of contributors of
their past intent, possibly with signed and notarized (?) statements
archived in triplicate across three geographically distinct locations.

I am offerring this email as a means to open discussion on this topic.
It is something not all open source projects (in fact, I would bet very
few) think about, much less implement. Many who create and/or implement
open source projects have ideals where they believe contributors will be
fair and honest. In a just and truthful world, such ideals would
probably hold, and none of this would be necessary - we could continue
to code and build.

However, we live in a hostile and malevolent society that worships god
money; the members of which seemingly will do anything to bring an end
to the development of open source projects, by any means necessary. We
are witnessing it with Linux, today. Regardless of whether that case is
won or lost, similar litigation in the future *will* be attempted. Which
major open source project will be next on the chopping block, and will
that project have the documentation to defend themselves with?

Andrew Ayers
Phoenix, Arizona

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Note - the views and thoughts described above are my own, and do not
reflect those of my employer, or any of its subsidiaries or clients.

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